


The Thousand Sunny Tea Shop

by Besidemyself



Series: Will they or won't they? - FRobin Oneshots [3]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Awkward Flirting, Bold Franky, Cute, F/M, Flirting, Fluffy Ending, Friendship, Gen, bold Robin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-16
Updated: 2019-09-16
Packaged: 2020-10-20 03:05:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20668268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Besidemyself/pseuds/Besidemyself
Summary: Modern AU / Not a pair yetRating: PG / K+First posted: 14th February 2017Person A owns a tea bar and is sick of people walking in asking “do you have coffee?”, or “can you give me a double cappuccino?”. Enter person B who walks in asking for coffee only to have person A snapping and saying they don’t sell coffee, only to realize the person they just yelled at is very hot.http://konoto.tumblr.com/post/156318147012A= Franky, B=Robin





	The Thousand Sunny Tea Shop

**Author's Note:**

> I decided to split my collection of Oneshots and put them all in a Series  
You can find the original here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9422423/chapters/21926663
> 
> I did a few changes, hopefully improving the fic with it. enjoy!

Imagine a little tea bar where you can sit and talk to your friends or you can just relax in one of the really comfortable seats to read the newspaper or a book from the bookshelf. You are free to take one home and also bring old ones here for others to read.  
Imagine it having cozy wooden walls and a giant aquarium with salt-water fishes. And you can hear the never ending, calming sound of water that hits the shell of a ship. The other walls are decorated with nautical charts, drawings of famous ships and a giant wheel. You can buy fresh french pastries that are delivered twice a day from the bakery a little up the street. Or you can get yourself a bag of loose tea to brew it at home.

Behind the counter is Franky, a tall man with bright blue hair who never wears pants, only swim trunks. Most of the time the customers won’t even see it, thanks to the counter but his regulars know and they have accepted it. As they have accepted that there is always an even taller person with a giant afro sitting on the counter, drinking his tea, sometimes singing and playing his instrument for the crowd that meets in this little comfortable place.

This place is the Thousand-Sunny-Tea-Shop.

Most people will come back after they visited the first time and a lot of them will become regulars. Still, more often than not people come in with the wrong idea.  
And always Franky has to tell them “Sorry but we don’t have coffee. I can give you a nice warm tea. It will wake you up too!” and way too often they decline (sometimes in a rude way) and leave.  
And those occasions annoy him to no end. Still, he always stays nice.

“Maybe you should put up a larger sign, Franky?” his most loyal customer suggests.  
“Maybe… this week is not super at all. You still need something, Brook?”  
“Ah yes, I would like another pot of Earl Grey tea.”

The tall man chuckles and starts to warm up the water and to prepare the blend.  
“Should have guessed, You never drink anything else.”  
“YOHOHOHO!”

“Okay, I’m off,” there is one larger group of chairs around a table, always occupied by the same group of young adults. One orange haired girl stands up. While going out she waves the two older man at the counter, “Hey, where do you two go tonite? Makino’s or Blueno’s?”  
“I don’t know yet… not even sure if I’ll go out tonite,” Franky muses, “Maybe I’ll rewatch Myth Busters.”  
“I’ll go to Fräulein Makinos Pub, where you are guaranteed to be served by a beautiful maiden. YOHOHO.”  
“Yeah, all right. Ew.”  
“Why do you ask, Fräulein Nami?” Brook asks, eyes always hidden by Sunglasses.   
“I have to take care of an exchange professor and don’t want her to be scared away, by the likes of you.”  
“Ouch. That’s really unfair, sis.” Franky can’t help but smile, feeling proud of his reputation as weirdo and pervert.  
“No it’s not. Don’t act like it is and don’t you two dare to come to Blueno’s tonite!” The young woman points a threatening finger towards the two older men. “And don’t tell Sanji either. It’s her first evening out and she should have fun.”  
And with that Nami leaves.  
The remaining people at the table where she sat before start to laugh and Franky finishes Brook’s Earl Grey.

“Hey, we should all meet at Makino's and later go at Blueno’s to see that friend of Nami!”  
“No, we shouldn’t, Luffy,” a young man with a long nose answers.  
“I have to agree with Usopp. I don’t want that witch to get mad at me… again,” another young man with green hair answers, stretching and yawning.  
“Ugh, you two are no fun,” the boy lays his head on the table, pouting.   
“Yeah, whatever. Zoro is right because Nami is scary. I’m gonna tell Sanji and Chopper that we’ll meet at Makino’s.” and with that the boy named Usopp starts to type into their group-chat the plans for the evening.

Time passes and the group leaves one after the other to later meet again. It slowly grows dark outside and when Brook finally leaves it had starts to rain cats and dogs.

Franky prepares to close down. It had been a long day and he has finally made up his mind and looks forward to a calm evening rewatching one of his favorite shows.  
But as always it comes different. The moment he ducks behind the counter to put away some cups the entry-bell rings. He sighs, trying to calm his nerves.  
“We’re closed.”  
“Oh, pardon me… but you don’t have by any chance hot coffee?”  
The owner of the voice is female but really this is no excuse and Franky can’t help himself but answer in a very impatient, almost angry voice.  
“No, I don’t have coffee! This is a Tea-Shop. I sell tea. I serve tea. Can’t You Read?! And we’re closed!!”  
With the last part he stands up to glare at the stupid woman who is ruining his after-work hours and immediately regrets his outburst.  
In front of him is the most beautiful woman he has ever seen.  
And she is soaked to the bone and shuddering.

“I’m sorry… I’ll leave in an instant,” she looks startled and a little guilty.  
“NO!” he shouts, stretching his arm towards her, making the woman flinch and staring at the strange man with big eyes, looking like she is ready to run.  
“No, I mean…," he clears his throat to calm himself and his voice before he continues. "I don’t have coffee but I can make you a hot cup of tea. You... it's raining? You should warm up a little and get yourself dry...”  
While waiting for the women's reaction Franky mentally slaps himself.  
“I’m not sure that is advisable. Maybe I should take my chances with the rain,” she frowns at him but stays put. For now.  
“Listen, I’m sorry. I should not shout at customers but it’s really frustrating to always get asked for coffee. Please sit down, I’ll make you a tea and it’s on the house.”  
He gestures towards one of the seats at the counter.  
She still looks at him, weary while brushing a wet strand of black hair behind her ear, still not moving, otherwise  
“Okay, last offer. I’ll make you a tea and throw in a fresh croissant. You can think about it while freshening up. The ladies room is over there,” and he points towards the back of the room.  
“I think…,” she finally shows a small smile, “... I’ll accept the offer.”  
And with that she takes off her coat and hangs it over the back of the chair to then walk towards the restroom.  
He looks after her, admiring her beauty while being painfully aware how creepy that is. He sees her eyeing the books in the shelves before finally leaving the room.

“I’m an idiot! Not super. Totally not super,” he mutters as soon as she is gone and he finally slaps himself.  
“Let’s prepare the tea,” and with that he goes to work, starting to brew a black tea for his guest and himself. Luckily there is still one of the really delicious croissant from Sanjis bakery.  
Pity. He wanted to eat that himself. But it's better that way. That woman is really hot... beautiful... and he does not want bad word spread about this place.

Finally the woman comes back, lingering at the shelves again and finally taking one of the books in her hand, immediately starting to read and slowly walking towards the counter.  
The man standing behind it can’t help himself but again stare at this woman in awe.

Just before she sits down she closes the book and lays it beside her, looking at Franky with unsure eyes.  
“There is a sign saying that people can take the books home if they want to…?”  
“That is right,” a large cup and a plate with the croissant is pushed towards her, ”please enjoy. Do you need milk with your tea?”  
With big eyes the woman looks up at Franky, considering his question.  
“No, thanks I’ll try it first without.”  
“It’s a strong blend. Some people don’t like the slight bitter taste.”  
A real smile shows on her face for the first time. And the man behind the counter feels heat creep up on his face, trying his best to not blush like an idiot.  
“I drink my coffee black. I think I can handle the bitterness of a tea.”  
To ease the awkwardness he starts to laugh.

“So you’re not from around here?” Franky asks while cleaning the counter again, just so he has something to do. It probably hasn’t been this clean for quite some time.  
“No, I’m here to fill in for a professor at the University... as an substitute. Maybe I’ll become his assistant professor and later, when he retires, become his successor,” the woman takes a sip from her cup, clearly enjoying the taste.  
“So you’re an academic?”  
“Yes.”  
“All right. Let me guess,” he looks at the book she wants to take with her. An old copy of ‘A Brief History of Time’  
“Probably not a physicists… that would be too obvious?”  
“You are right,” there is laughter in her voice and she winks at him. “But there is a clue in the title.”  
“You’re a watchmaker? Since when can you study that?”  
And finally she laughs out loud. A pleasant sound.

The awkwardness now has vanished pretty fast after the first few sips of tea and one or two stupid jokes by him. Up until now she has only chuckled a little bit.  
She sure does enjoy the croissant and compliments the furnishing, making him proud. 

Franky tries again: “So, you’re a historian… I haven’t asked you for your name yet, have I?” Franky feels stupid. They have already talked for a good hour.  
“Yes and no,” she chuckles and reaches out her hand “My name is Robin Nico. Nice to meet you.”  
“My name is Franky. It’s a pleasure to meet you too,” and he takes her hand carefully in his. Her handshake is stronger than he would have thought.  
“Just Franky?” she raises one eyebrow at him.  
“Yeah, it’s some kind of a nickname or pseudonym or something,” he can’t help but feel embarrassed and with a chuckle she releases his hand.  
“I guess you haven’t been a tea-shop-owner all your life? I also guess there is a story behind this interior?”

“You are right about it. I used to be an engineer and was working for a well known ship-building company. But I wanted to do something else… I did some traveling and ended up here. This used to be a coffee-shop but I don’t really like coffee and so I decided to make it a tea shop. The former owner was too old to continue working.”  
“That is not so different from me,” a sad smile appears on her face and her finger travels along the brim of the cup, “I hope that I will stay. Would be nice to finally settle down.”  
“Wanna talk about it?”  
She laughs again and looks at him from under her eyelashes: “Maybe next time. I’ll stay at least three months. Should be time enough.”  
“You’re right, you don’t tell your whole life story to a stranger on your first meeting, that is very sensible of you.”  
“I also have a couple of more questions.”  
“About me?” Franky shows his largest grin.  
“About you.”  
“I look forward to answer them.”  
They both fall in silence, this time it’s not awkward but a mutual one.

Suddenly a loud buzzing noise can be heard and both of them flinch at the disturbance.  
“I’m sorry, that is my phone…,” with a frown Franky picks it up to look at it. Noone would message him at this time of the evening.  
The chat with his friends is always muted because the kids write all the time. He has Brook muted too because most of the time he would only send some weird picture that the older had man found online.  
But this time it is a direct message from Nami, asking him to call her.

“Is something the problem?” his guest empties her cup before putting it elegantly back on the saucer.  
“I’m not sure...,” he smiles at her apologetically, “A friend asks me to call her, so if you don’t mind?”  
“No, please do. Friends are important.”  
The woman herself uses the opportunity to take out her own phone to see if someone had tried to get through to her.

While Franky waits for Nami to pick up, Robin sees 5 missed calls and a couple of messages on her phone all asking her where she is. Then she sees the time. She was supposed to meet up with the student who was assigned to her to show her around an hour ago. Oops!

“Hey, Sis. Franky here, what’s up?” he can’t help but feel worried.  
Nami is loud. And sounds rather distressed, but Franky has to keep the phone a little bit away from his ear.  
“Please! Nami! Calm down I don’t understand you,” he can finally put the phone back to his ear.  
“Who is missing?”  
“Your friend?”  
“Oh, the woman you wanted to meet at Bluenos...”  
“You want me to what?”  
“Okay… but how do you know something has happened to her? Maybe she is home watching a show?”  
“She didn’t answer her phone… yes, okay… I understand. What about the others?”  
“Oh did they? Well at least you don’t have to call them…”  
“Okay, tell me what you know so I can contact my friends... “  
“Yes… yes… 188 cm, black hair, blue eyes? Uhm… what is her name…?”

He finally peeks up to the woman who sits on the other side of the counter, looking at him with laughter in her eyes and a crooked smile.  
“Nico, Robin you say? Well, I have suuuuper news for you. She is right in front of me…,” as fast as he can he takes the phone away from his ear again. A string of cursing can be heard. Still he laughs.  
“Nami! Nami! Calm down! Get the gang and come over. I’ll explain everything to you. Tea will be ready when you arrive.”  
“Yes… yes… No. I don’t owe you anything. See ya. Bye.”

“I’m sorry. I hope I didn’t cause you any problems?” now Robin smiles apologetically.  
“Nah, it’s fine. I can handle that. She is just glad that you’re safe and sound, even though she probably thinks I’m a danger for you.”  
“Why is that?” she frowns at him.  
“I am known as a weirdo and pervert,” proudly he throws himself in pose and as a response she laughs.

Half and hour later the group of friends bursts into the Thousand-Sunny-Tea-Shop, up front Nami, who falls around Robins neck, saying how glad she is that Robin is fine.  
Franky gives everyone a cup of herbal tea to calm them down. Luffy, Usopp and another friend called Chopper watch Robin in awe when she explains how it came to be, that she ended up here.  
Sanji had fawned over the historian and then decided to go prepare something to eat, for the little group. He now comes back from the kitchen loaded with sandwiches, snacks and beer and then snaps at the owner of the tea-shop, that he needs to restock his fridge, while shoving a bottle of cola in his hands.

Zoro grabs himself a bottle of beer and sits down right on the floor, while Brooke sits at his regular place, enjoying his Earl Grey.  
Franky takes a step back, leaning on the far wall behind the counter taking a deep breath.  
He knows this kind of gathering. This will be long night, it can't be long until Usopp starts to tell stories and Brook starts to sing, but he is happy that this beautiful and smart woman he met today won’t just vanish again. And as it seems she will be a part of their weird group… probably already is.

For her, he maybe would even serve coffee… or maybe he could make her convert to tea?  
She smiles at him over the brim of her cup and he smiles back.

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for Valentines Day 2017 but as a two-parter... this time I fit it in one chapter. I changed a couple of things. Added a few more things and corrected some mistakes... and there are probably even more.  
Anyway there is?... had been? no real Coffeeshop AU and I figured that... a Teashop-AU would be nice for FrankyXRobin. 
> 
> Even After 2.5 years... I still really like this fanfictions. I really enjoyed to reread and tweak it and I hope you people also still enjoy it!
> 
> What would I give to visit that Teashop.


End file.
